Liberty Media Takes The Money And Runs, Starz Left Holding The Bag

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Friday, after the market closed, Liberty Media Corporation(LMCAD,LMCBD,LMCAV,LMCBV,LMCA,LMCB) announced that it had completed its spinoff from Starz(STRZA, STRZB), formerly the Liberty Media Corporation. For a cogent explanation of the alphabet soup, see our article from last week.

As part of the transaction, Starz drew down its credit line and distributed $1.8 billion in cash to Liberty

Prior to the Spin-Off, Starz utilized cash on hand and borrowings under its bank credit facility and distributed an additional $1.2 billion to Liberty Media Corporation (previously, Starz had distributed $600 million to Liberty Media Corporation). Starz has approximately $450 million available to borrow under its bank credit facility after this distribution.

While Starz’ business consists of cable networks Starz and Encore, Liberty holds a wider variety of assets

Following the Spin-Off, Liberty’s principal businesses and assets include its consolidated subsidiaries Atlanta National League Baseball Club, Inc. and TruePosition, Inc., equity affiliates Sirius XM Radio Inc. and Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. and minority investments in public companies such as Barnes & Noble, Inc., Time Warner Inc., Time Warner Cable Inc. and Viacom Inc.. Starz’ businesses and assets consist of those of Starz, LLC, its wholly owned subsidiary.

The company also noted the composition of the new Boards Of Directors

As a result of the Spin-Off, Christopher Albrecht, Irving Azoff, Derek Chang, Susan Lyne, Jeffrey Sagansky, Daniel Sanchez, Charles Tanabe and Robert Wiesenthal joined the board of directors of Starz, following the resignation of all of the former Liberty Media Corporation directors (other than Gregory Maffei, who remains a director of Starz). Liberty’s board of directors currently consists of all of the directors who previously served on the board of directors of the former Liberty Media Corporation prior to the Spin-Off: John Malone, Gregory Maffei, Robert Bennett, Donne Fisher, Ian Gilchrist, Evan Malone, David Rapley, Larry Romrell and Andrea Wong.

At first glance, it looks like Malone has shaped Starz to be acquired by a larger media company, and that the value of Liberty Media on  sum of the parts basis exceeds its market capitalization. More spinoffs to come, perhaps? With Malone, probably.

Disclosure: The author holds no shares in any stock mentioned.

 

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